Now you're beginning to settle into a daily routine with your baby, you'll have a bit of time and energy to watch her acquire skills and see just what an amazing little person she is!

Everything sucks!

In the very early days, your baby depended on a reflex action to guide her to your breast. Now, she's beginning to know just what she's doing. Put her to the breast and soon she purposefully grasps your breast with her mouth and immediately starts to suck.

In between feeds your baby is starting to suck at almost anything that is placed in her mouth. She may also start to suck her thumb. When newborn, she sucked her thumb if it happened to land in her mouth, and she cried if it fell out. By two months, she can control both her hand and mouth to do what she wants.

Headlines

Your baby's head control is getting better, too. At this stage, most babies will start to lift their heads up when lying on their stomachs.

Hands first

Your baby is discovering that hand-watching is much more fun when she moves them around. By around eight weeks, she may open and close her fingers, gazing at them intently as if she is aware that the hand she is watching belongs to her.

Did you know?

Your baby has now worked out the difference between sucking for exercise and pleasure, and sucking to satisfy hunger. When she's not hungry, she will suck contentedly on a dummy. When she's ready to be fed, she spits out the dummy and cries.

Smile please!

You may see your baby give a fleeting smile just three days after birth, but this is a reflex action
Your baby starts to smile generally at around four to six weeks old. You'll notice the difference because she smiles for longer and her eyes are expressive too. The smile itself is different too, involving cheek, eye and mouth muscles
A female voice is the sound most likely to make your baby smile
A special smile for the people she loves only comes when your baby is between five and six months old
You can't speed up the process by endless grinning at your baby. Blind babies smile at the same time as babies with sight
When your baby smiles, you respond positively, she is rewarded and the pattern is repeated.

Things to do

Get some liquid bubbles and blow them for your baby. She'll love watching them as they slowly float by.
Put a toy that squeaks easily in your baby's hand. The accidental squeak will help her to discover what his hand is doing.